All Over Albany

Items tagged with 'small businesses'

A business acquaintance of mine is looking to redesign some logos for their (2) apartment complexes and I was wondering if anyone from your community might be able to recommend someone they've used that has done good work and is local.

There are a lot of designers out there, and if you know of a local one who could be a good fit for this project, by all means please mention that person (bonus points for why you're recommending that person).

But because there are a lot of design options, it can be hard to sort through them. So, got some advice on what to look for in a good designer or design firm? We'd love to hear about that, too.

Greulich's, near the border between Guilderland and Schenectady, was like something from another time -- a small, independent grocery store that focused on customer service. But the grocery business is a notoriously difficult industry with tiny margins. And as manager Robert Van Allen told Liz Clancy Lerner for AOA a few years back, Greulich's was feeling the pressure of staying small in a world of supermarket giants:

You gotta realize when you go into a big chain, their groceries are going to be cheaper; they'll always be cheaper because they buy railcar loads, where I buy one at a time. ...

The biggest change is that years ago Hannaford wasn't down here, the beverage center wasn't down here. So when the other places come in, probably our grocery business has gone down a little bit -- but our perishables are still way up there because we can offer a more personal touch to that. The beer business has gone down because that's gone to drugstores and discount beverage stores because they get a huge quantity.

But as Van Allen told Liz about managing a small, independent store: "You become tight knit and you're able to do things on your own [here] where in a chain you have to just follow the policy 'bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.'"

And there was a bonus prize! Staff Ciampino also awarded Puzzles a year of free consulting and accounting services!

It was great to see Sara Mae and hear about the progress on Puzzles. She said they're currently finishing off some construction work and waiting on some kitchen equipment. The bakery/cafe on State Street in downtown Schenectady is aiming for a soft open this July.

Thank you to everyone who helped out with this year's contest, including Janet Tanguay at the Chamber for her coaching services, and our judges -- Lissa D'Aquanni from the Community Loan Fund, Blake Hanan from Mealo, and Rhea Drysdale from Outspoken Media. And thank you again to this year's contest sponsors Staff Ciampino & Company P.C., Certified Public Accountants and Berkshire Bank.

Rare Form's tap room/brewery space, which was being prepped on Tuesday.

The new Rare Form Brewing Company in Troy is set to open its doors this Friday. The startup craft brewery is the result of a long-running plan by married couple Kevin Mullen and Jenny Kemp, who moved to the Capital Region after stops in Denver and Seattle.

Rare Form's opening also marks the ongoing transformation of its block at Congress St and 4th Street, which over the next few months four new storefronts are planned -- the sort of change that has a lot of people optimistic about the future of Troy.

We stopped by this week to get a look at what's in the works, and talk with some of the people involved.

Friends Caroline Corrigan and Katy Smith planned for years to open a business in downtown Albany. They had a couple different ideas -- including an urban grocery. But they ultimately ended up in the Delaware Ave neighborhood with a modern home goods shop: Fort Orange General Store. It's grand opening is today.

"We wanted to open something that was needed in the neighborhood it was in, and we thought about what Albany still doesn't have," Corrigan said. "Since we are connected to the art community, and both of us make stuff, this made sense."

The pool of entries for this year's AOA Startup Grant was very strong. Many of the applications of would have made very fine finalists. But there can only be three, two chosen by crowd voting last week, and one chosen by the Editors.

Three finalists will be chosen to compete for $1,500. Crowd voting will pick two of the finalists, the Editors will pick the third. The finalists will make presentations to a panel of judges that will pick the winner.

This year's group of applicants looks very strong. They range from arts programs to body piercing to food companies to retail to design to apparel. Go have a look, and then vote for your two favorites.

The first AOA Startup Grant winner was The Radix Center for Ecological Sustainability in Albany. When they applied for the grant, Scott Kellogg and Stacie Pettigrew had already had a 40-foot greenhouse and were working on raising chickens, rabbits, and vegetables on a plot of land in Albany's Grand Street neighborhood. But the founders of the educational center for urban sustainability pitched an addition to their project -- an aquaculture setup in which they could raise fish, watercress, and water lettuce.

Today Kellogg says they're using the system as a teaching tool and selling some of the resulting products.

One of the things we love about the Startup Grant Contest is that not only does it help the winner, it also calls attention to lots of interesting, creative ventures in the Capital Region. Past finalists have gone on to build successful ventures based on the plans they proposed, with a bit of help from the feedback provided by the startup contest judges.

One of those finalists is Traci Cornwell, the entrepreneur behind the Giddy Up Bus, a bus service that runs from Albany to Saratoga and transports people for weddings and special events.

Traci was just 23 years old when she entered the contest and was selected as a finalist. Though she didn't win, she says the feedback from the judges was invaluable. Today she's successfully operating the Giddy Up bus and is considering adding a second bus to the fleet in the fall.

The idea: Provide $1,500 in cash to help a budding entrepreneur get a new project off the ground, or take an existing small business project to the next level.

It's also an opportunity to get a look at some of the good ideas circulating just below the radar in our region. The 2012 contest helped 3 Chicks and a P fund its hummus and tapenade business. And the first startup contest helped the Radix Center fund an aquaculture setup in which they raise fish, watercress and water lettuce, and help educate the public about urban sustainability.

This year Berkshire Bank is offering a $1,500 startup grant to help get another local micro-enterprise off the ground. And once again, you get to help decide who gets that funding. Or -- you know -- maybe even enter your own idea.

Nine Pin Cider Works -- the startup cidery in the warehouse district in North Albany -- officially opened its tasting room on Broadway Friday. And it was jammed. Apparently Albany was ready for some locally-made cider. A handful of photos from the Friday's open house are after the jump.

The hours for the tasting room are Thursday and Friday 4-9 pm, and Saturday 1-9 pm. Nine Pin also now has a distributor, so it should be popping up in bars, restaurants, and retail stores around the area.

Last summer I received a few bouquets through Flower Scout, a local grower and purveyor of fresh-cut flowers that was also running a CSA. Flower Scout has since morphed into flower sales, event flowers (weddings, for example), and other ideas.

I recently had the opportunity to chat with Colie Collen, creator of Flower Scout, about balancing creative projects, working for yourself, and Troy.

The screens at the Madison Theater in Albany will flick back to life January 17 when the theater opens for the first time after a renovation.

The 85-year-old venue has lived through many different versions in its history. But this next life represents a significant transformation. The Madison is now operated by Tierra Farm, the Columbia County-based organic nuts/coffee/dried fruit company that also runs the coffee shop at the front of the building. Tierra has big plans for the space: upgraded theaters, digital projectors, a retail store for its products, and, eventually, an event space.

We stopped by the theater Monday to get a look at the renovations and hear a little bit more about what's planned for the neighborhood theater.

Thanks to my Ask @alloveralbany inquiry we had our chimney swept by Pete Looker who left this excellent receipt. [above]

I wish I was home to meet him. As the other commenters on @alloveralbany noted he did indeed wear a stovepipe hat!

And the judges award the win to Pete Looker, for execution and style!

After seeing this receipt, we were thinking we might enjoy those ridiculously long drugstore receipts if they had passages from Dickens or some sort of other Victorian literature on the back. Heck, some of them are long enough, you might be able to fit a whole chapter.

The new food market in downtown Troy -- The Grocery -- officially opened Tuesday on Broadway, half a block from Monument Square.

It's the latest project from Vic Christopher and Heather LaVine, owners of The Confectionery, located in an adjacent building. And much like the wine/coffee bar, Christopher and LaVine have created another space with a definite sense of place.

We stopped in Tuesday afternoon to have a look and talk with a few of the people involved, about how it came together and trying to find the right approach for a grocery store in downtown Troy.

Traci Cornwell comes from a long line of entrepreneurs. Her grandparents opened Cornwell Appliance on Central Ave in Colonie over sixty years ago. And her great-grandfather owned a shuttle business in Coxsackie. So her current path probably shouldn't be a surprise.

At the corner of 4th and Fulton in downtown Troy, in what was formerly an OTB space on the ground floor of a parking garage, is now a workshop with metal and wood working machinery, racks of tools and parts, 3-D scanners and printers, and biotech equipment.

The new Tech Valley Center of Gravity is a makerspace -- a place for hackers, crafters, artists, geeks to build stuff, take things apart, hack new things to together, and to learn from each other.

The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza is one of three indie book stores that have filed a class action suit against Amazon and the "big six" book publishers alleging the companies have violated anti-trust law by forming agreements, and using digital rights management, to exclude indie book stores from the e-book market. The suit also alleges the arrangement is moving Amazon toward having an e-book monopoly. [Huffington Post Scribd]

As the book stores' lead attorney explained to the Huffington Post this week: "We are seeking relief for independent brick-and-mortar bookstores so that they would be able to sell open-source and DRM-free books that could be used on the Kindle or other electronic ereaders." [Huffington Post]

So, in other words, the books stores are looking to prohibit the publishers from publishing e-books that can only be read on a Kindle (or via a Kindle app), and Amazon would be required to allow e-books from any store to be read on a Kindle. They also want the publishers to allow indie brick-and-mortar book stores to be allowed to sell e-books with "open-source" digital rights management ("DRM" -- technology that makes it harder to copy something).

On November 3, 2011 Vic Christopher and his wife Heather LaVine bought the building at 12 Second Street in Troy and began the work of restoring it that very night. It had most recently been the Troy Insurance Agency, but stood vacant across the street from the Illium Cafe for several years.

However, from 1863-1951 this had been the site of the Charles F. Lucas Confectionery.

Mr. Lucas, an Austrian-born emigre, brought the people of Troy something special, something sweet from the place he called home. Mr. Christopher is doing the same thing, but he's drawing from his roots in Brooklyn. After almost a year of renovations, soon the Charles F. Lucas Confectionery will re-open as a wine bar.

Recently I had the opportunity to talk with one of Troy's most passionate supporters about how this project began, what baseball has in common with operating a wine bar, and why Vic and Heather are hoping this will be your home away from home.

The giant check came with $1,500 actual dollars (in a smaller check via direct deposit) that 3 Chicks owner Jennifer Ritner-Paniccia and her husband Matthew say they'll use for nutritional labeling for some of their newer flavors. They're hoping the labeling will help get their products onto supermarket shelves. 3 Chicks currently sells at local farmers' markets and co-ops.

Everyone celebrated the giant check with broccoli and hummus.

We'll be checking back with 3 Chicks and a P in a few months to see how they're doing.

A familiar face and vendor at local farmers markets, Cohoes-based RAD Soap Co. has grown quickly in its four years. Sue's soaps and lotions began as a natural remedy to her family's ailments, from eczema to muscle pain to sinusitis. Those home remedies eventually turned into a full line of soaps, lotions, crèmes, balms and teas made from all natural ingredients -- and shipped all over the country.

There were a lot of good submissions for this year's AOA Sunmark Startup Grant. Projects ranged from a resource for new parents, to car sharing, to art, to web apps, to food. If you haven't read through the applications, you should -- you might find a project with which you'd like to get involved.

But there can only be three finalists -- two selected through crowd voting, the other by the Editors.

Crowd voting will determine two of the finalists. And there's still time for a bunch of projects to claim those top two spots -- the middle of the pack is only about 100 votes out of the top two. (There have been more than 1000 votes so far.)

Two of the three finalists for the $1500 startup grant will be chosen by crowd voting. (The Editors pick the third finalist.) Voting ends this Friday, May 11, at noon.

The final three will get an entrepreneurial crash course with business coach Janet Tanguay next week at the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce. They'll then make short presentations to a panel of judges, who will pick the winner.

This year's group of applicants includes some interesting and potentially community-changing ideas -- ranging from food to art to transportation. Have a look and then go vote.

I am looking for a media consultant. Someone to help our organization here in Albany with about 60 employees, with website redesign, and social media: facebook, twitter, etc. etc. We just don't l have the time to do it ourselves. Any leads on good local people?

There are a lot of people pitching this sort of service these days. We're not convinced all of them actually know what they're doing.

So, know of a local consultant or agency that would be good for a small or medium sized business? Please share.

Update: If you mention your own company or agency, please clearly state that you're affiliated with that organization.

Last year's winners -- Scott Kellogg and Stacey Pettigrew from the Radix Center -- in their greenhouse in Albany's Grand Street neighborhood. They used the grant money to help start an indoor aquaculture system.

Sometimes all a good idea needs to get off the ground is a little push. And we know there are a lot of great ideas floating around the Capital Region. So we've brought back the AOA Sunmark Startup Grant.

Sunmark Federal Credit Union is offering a $1,500 startup grant to help get one local micro-enterprise off the ground. And once again, you get to help decide who gets that funding. Or -- you know -- maybe even enter your own idea.

Last year more than 30 people or groups submitted entries to compete for the grant. It was inspiring to see the variety and creativity among the entries -- from cheesecakes and cell phone pods to public art and aquaculture. We're really looking forward to seeing what people come up with this year.

In 2012, Tight Knit is re-imagining its role as a presenter, reaching out to an expanded audience with the introduction of "Troy Flea: An Urban Bazaar". The areas best Artisans and Crafters will mingle with connoisseurs of Vintage clothing, Antiques, collectibles, oddities, and what-nots; curated to present you with only the best, most diverse market the area has to offer. With a strong focus on community and small business over big box globalization, Tight Knit's mission since inception is to organize and motivate local artists and citizens to share their perspectives, knowledge and creativity with others. Let's keep our dollars in our communities and grow together.

The first app from Deadmans Productions, a relatively new mobile app company in Troy, now available for both iPhone and Android. "Undecided" includes a handful of virtual methods for making choices: rolling dice, flipping a coin, drawing straws -- that sort of thing.

The app costs 99 cents. It's a little rough around the edges. Some of the touch objects (if that's the phrase) are a little hard to grab. But it is kind of fun to flip a quarter by giving your phone a little flick (screengrab right). The company is holding a contest to rename the app -- but the current name fits it pretty well.

Zooming out, there's a bit of a mobile app development scene sprouting in the Capital Region. Among the players:

When the people at Sunmark asked us if they could give one of those giant cardboard checks to the Radix Center for winning the AOA/Sunmark Startup Grant, our response was something along the lines of: "What other sort of check would you give them?!?"

It's true: everyone loves the giant check. And this afternoon, Sunmark CEO Bruce Beaudette and director of marketing David Weinstein stopped by the Radix Center's site in Albany's Grand Street neighborhood to present the money to Scott Kellogg and Stacy Pettigrew.

Thanks again to Sunmark for funding the startup grant. And congratulations to the Scott and Stacy -- we're excited to see their greenhouse and aquaculture system develop.

A few more pics -- of the giant check and the under-construction greenhouse -- after the jump.

We had 36 projects apply for the AOA/Sunmark Startup Grant. And if we had the money, we'd give a $1500 push to a bunch of them. Really -- there were a lot of worthy projects. Thank you to everyone who applied.

But we can choose only one. And to reach that decision, we needed to narrow the field down to three finalists. Two of the spots have been picked via crowd voting. The third spot is a pick by the Editors.

We're just about at the halfway point in the voting to select the finalists for the AOA/Sunmark Startup Grant. The chart above has the top 10 vote getters, as of Thursday night (and 1,400 votes).

Two projects -- Fazana Saleem-Ismail's birthday parties for homeless children, and Katie Pray Designs -- have separated themselves as front runners. But we still have almost three days of voting to go. That's plenty of time for other projects, even those outside the top 10, to move into the top two.

The top two get a place in the finals. The Editors will choose the third finalist -- and it's going to be tough. There are a bunch of interesting ideas!

On second thought, don't answer that. I'll just jump right in to talking about diapers.

With my first baby, I chose cloth. It was soft. I liked that it "breathed" better than disposables. And I liked the fact that we weren't sending extra crap (ahem) to the landfill. But washing diapers at home was not an option: We were renting; the landlord had shut off the hot-water line to the washing machine, and you can't wash diapers in cold.

So we contracted with a diaper service. Easy: They provided the diapers. We just tossed the used ones into a bin, set them out once a week, and fresh clean diapers would magically appear the next morning.

But by the time our second daughter came around, the diaper service we'd used had gone out of business. We went with disposables. Yeah, she got diaper rash more often. Yeah, we threw out a lot of trash. But whether we deserved the eco-guilt we felt isn't completely clear: When you take the laundering into account, reusables aren't exactly guilt-free, either. Studies comparing the environmental impact of cloth and disposables have shown mixed results, and even the Natural Resources Defense Council has reported that "environmentalists from various organizations declared a draw, suggesting we all move on to issues where the costs and benefits were more clear-cut."

Me, my heart's still with cloth; but whatever your feelings, it's nice that parents have options. There are now several diapering businesses in the Capital Region, and they make it as easy as could be to go cloth with your baby.

Read on to learn more about three of the area's cloth diaper services.

Consider the aroma of slow-roasting cashews dusted in curry. Consider the chocolate-covered coffee beans. Or the maple-glazed pecans. Or -- woah, are those pistachios?

No contest: The prize for the Capital Region's best-smelling workplace goes to Tierra Farm, an organic nut-roasting company in Valatie.

The warm, spicy fragrance of roasted nuts is only part of what's appealing about Tierra Farm. The company is working hard to create a product, a business model and a work environment that's consistent with their values. And they look like they're having lots of fun while doing it.

Well, yesterday we got a look at a space in Albany that points in that direction. It stops short of the ultra-flexible, hive-like coworking concept, but it's more flexible than a typical office rental.

The space is in the 747 Madison building in Albany. We met up with property manager Stephanie Means for a tour.

The Scoop

Ever wish you had a smart, savvy friend with the inside line on what's happening around the Capital Region? You know, the kind of stuff that makes your life just a little bit better? Yeah, we do, too. That's why we created All Over Albany. Find out more.

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When I used to bus-commute in another city, there was a similar smart card system and it was AWESOME. On/Off time was significantly decreased, so buses were even a little more timely. I hope this pilot goes smoothly because the faster this gets implemented, the better for bus riders. This is good news!